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"A walking disaster area meets his match."

This story reads well on two levels. On one, it's an
exciting college romance between a good girl and a bad boy.
On a deeper level BEAUTIFUL DISASTER is a tragedy of the
generational cycle of violence, alcoholism and gambling
being repeated by two intelligent young people even as we
watch. It's almost compulsive reading and the main
characters have a presence which makes them jump off the
page.

Travis Maddox is a walking disaster area and Abby Abernathy
first encounters him when she is brought to a secret fight
in the basement of Eastern University, where promoters and
students alike bet on brutal no-rules bare-knuckle (and
elbow, knee and floor) fights. Abby is brought by her best
friend America, who is going out with Shepley, Travis's
cousin. Travis gets blood on Abby's nice cardigan and
after winning the fight gets interested in seeing her
again. She's not keen, because now she knows what gaudy
tattoos lurk under his shirt. His nickname 'Mad Dog' isn't
encouraging either. Not to mention the string of trashy
one-night-stands he's famous for, and the groupies who
follow him around.

However since Travis rooms with Shepley, America and Abby
start to be around him more, and he cleans up well, can
hold a conversation and turns out to be a straight A
student majoring in criminal law. He got a scholarship for
half his tuition and is paying the rest of his expenses with
his
fight winnings. Abby is good at math but less so at
biology and Travis offers to coach her, improving her
grades and capturing her attention, as well as nicknaming
her Pigeon. She decides that they can be friends but has
no intention of taking the relationship any further.
Naturally this makes her the talk of the cafeteria and
Travis's daunting presence ensures that other boys don't
try to chat Abby up, apart from the well-bred Parker Hayes
who is sufficiently impressed to date her and give her a
diamond bracelet, earning Travis's undying enmity.

The amoral Travis makes a bet with Abby that if he is hit
even once in his next fight, he will be celibate for a
month, but if he wins while avoiding getting hit she has to
stay with him for a month. He wins and Abby takes bets
very seriously - later we find that her father is addicted
to gambling, a past she is trying to escape - so she has
to move in with him and Shepley. Refusing to sleep on the
couch where Travis has his encounters with women - which
appear to be unpleasant for all in the flat except Travis -
Abby ends up 'having' to share his bed. She could have
bought a sleeping bag and slept on the floor. Two weeks
into the experiment the two are secretly crazy about each
other but Abby, even as she sees moody, jealous Travis
improve the behavior he learned in a dysfunctional family,
is terrified to get trapped with the same drinking, violent
and gambling life her mother endured.

BEAUTIFUL DISASTER is a catalogue of irresponsible
behavior from using fake IDs to dangerous drinking games
to driving drunk; from causing actual bodily harm in the
cafeteria without anyone complaining to the police or
university, to repeated one-night-stands. To the author's
credit, every time there is at least one voice of reason
telling a girl that it is suicidal to bet she can drink
fifteen shots of tequila, and the aftermath isn't pleasant
either. When Travis and Abby eventually become lovers he
seems to have nothing going for him but vigor, pleasing
the lady never having been his priority; at least he was
savvy enough always to use protection and Abby puts herself
on the pill. I was disappointed that bright young people
couldn't come up with ways of entertaining themselves that
don't involve heavy drinking, but the girls are warned that
drinks can be spiked. And Abby's pathetic father showing
up sponging thousands from her is a good warning of the
consequences of gambling.

Jamie McGuire has written an intense, well-characterized,
enjoyable drama which grips from the start. As she strives
for an elevated standard of English it is worth my while to
niggle; people do not shrug, nod or wink words, any more
than they kick them, while a few times she uses "America
and I" where "America and me" would be correct. BEAUTIFUL
DISASTER
deserves to be read but I would hesitate to recommend it to
readers under 18.

SUMMARY

The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or
swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in
her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the
darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with
her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly
challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.

Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly
what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights
winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the
ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s
resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily
life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain
abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in
Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way,
Travis has no idea that he has met his match.